LEON USIGBE writes on the factors that saved Prince Uche Secondus against recent concerted moves to remove him as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last week contrived what could be termed a middle-course solution to the latest party crisis that threatened to devour its National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus. Meeting at the instance of the Board of Trustees (BoT), chieftains of the party including state governors, former governors, former ministers, former presiding officers of the National Assembly, among others, jointly resolved to retain Secondus in his post, but ordered an early national convention in a move seen as an effort to also give Secondus a soft landing and placate those calling for his head.
This was not what the party boss wanted. Neither did the forces that were intent on removing him anticipate it. But it was enough to calm frayed nerves as the opposing camps prepare to fight another day.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is said to be the arrowhead for those who want Secondus out of office. According to those from the camp of the embattled national chairman, Wike’s motivation was thought to be the need to have a smooth sail securing the 2023 presidential ticket of the party for his group. The permutation is that he wants to be the party’s candidate for the election or at least, the running mate to whosoever will emerge from his preferred bloc in the party, an allegation that those in the governor’s camp have denied.
But to the anti-Secondus group, which also includes most state governors and some Senators and House of Representatives elected on the platform, his ‘cup of sins’ was already overflowing. This group believes that the national chairman has not fared well in the management of the party. Allegations touching on finances were said to have become rife with some members even petitioning the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
When the BoT called a meeting at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja as it launched the effort to douse the ensuing crisis, Wike stormed the venue and publicly tongue-lashed Secondus who he backed for the party boss’ post when their relationship blossomed. Not immediately swayed by the need for the party chair to go, the BoT at that meeting decided to raise a committee of elders to determine the way forward. The committee’s work culminated in the decision announced last week.
Party sources have since indicated that Wike’s camp penetrated its National Working Committee (NWC) to financially induced the members to move against Secondus. This led to the resignation of some elected members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the demand by six NWC members for Secondus to step aside. The officers that resigned accused him of incompetence and grossly mismanaging the party, including overseeing the defection of its governors to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).
This sentiment was echoed by a member of the BoT and former national chair candidate of the party, Chief Bode George, who also accused Secondus of running the PDP like a private estate. He made the allegations in a television interview.
George, who was the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the PDP, posited: “As an elder, as a leader of this party, and as somebody who served for 10 years at the NWC, I saw the platform of our party wobbling. You cannot do anything meaningful when your party is not stable. What I will tell Nigerians is this: today is a special day in the annals of the PDP’s history, that the elders, having considered, having seen what is going on in the party, decided to save the party because the founding fathers have a certain mission, and that mission is so vital for the Nigerian state.
“We have been giving very adequate solid issues on national matters and we did it. It (PDP) became so petty and so rowdy. When you disregard the grund norm, the constitution of the party, then what are you doing? You are translating it as if it is your private company. We saw this and I won’t like to go further into the debris and filth. The way they were managing the party fell short of seriousness. So, as a concerned member, I was thinking that I should leave the party and go home and rest because I won’t join any party after PDP.”
Party insiders say Secondus’ camp is saddened by the perceived attack from George and thinks that it is coming because the Lagos politician is yet to get over his 2017 unsuccessful attempt to clinch the party top post from the Rivers state-born party boss. They are of the opinion that a respected party leader like George should be more circumspect in his interventions during crisis and should not be revisiting the issues that had amicably been resolved.
This round of crisis is perceptibly the stiffest test Secondus had to endure in his position as the party leader, but he survived it because of a few factors. First, the allegation of corruption against him could not be substantiated and was promptly dismissed by the party’s reconciliation committee. Second, that of mismanaging the party appears to go against the grains of what the PDP achieved under his leadership. Third, the attempt to blame the defection of three PDP governors to the APC did not fly with the BoT as they understood that the defected state chief executives succumbed to threats and intimidation, particularly as they are faced with potential corruption cases with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Observers also suggested that Secondus took over a broken party after its spectacular defeat in in 2015 and attempted to rebuild the confidence of its members as acting National Chairman before the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi’s interregnum. On emerging as the substantive national chair of the party in 2017, the onus was on him to continue the confidence building process, reconciling aggrieved members, and repositioning the main opposition party leading to the PDP’s improved electoral fortunes in succeeding elections.
Pundits have similarly cited the new culture of free and fair party primaries instituted by the current NWC, which they observed has led to more transparent exercises while lessening acrimony among aspirants. This is what Secondus sympathizers believe is at the root of the move to oust him. They imagine that those who want to seize the party structures to promote their 2023 ambitions are not comfortable with a potential transparent national convention that may have safeguards against manipulation in the selection of the party’s presidential candidate.
There are those who countered the claim, saying the party’s tickets became made-for-money merchandise at the hands of the embattled national chairman. A former Senator of the party and one of its gubernatorial aspirant in Oyo State for the 2019 election, claimed on a radio station in Ibadan that Secondus sent a delegation of the NWC led by the immediate past South-West chairman, Dr Eddy Olafeso to him to inform him the guber ticket was available for him at the cost of N250m. Adeseun, who has since dumped PDP for APC, said he offered them N50m but they stuck to the N250m price. He took the outcome of the primary election that produced Seyi Makinde, an engineer, up to the Supreme Court, though he lost.
Having survived in office, Secondus is confronted by another onerous challenge; that of conducting an early national convention. With his tenure shortened by about two months, he will be in a race against time to prepare the PDP for the national convention sufficiently. This may mean collapsing all the programmes the national leadership had already structured to last from now till December to fit into the little time now available including pending state congresses and superintending the party’s participation in the critical November 6 Anambra state gubernatorial election.
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